Hand-Foot Enhanced Benefits Now Apply to Pending Claims

It took most of 2020, but a bill clarifying that expanded benefits for hand and foot injuries applies to some pending claims has been signed into law and is now in effect. Assembly Bill 4134 and its Senate companion bill, S2722, became law Oct. 30, months after they were introduced. The law is designed to answer questions about an expanded benefits bill that took effect in January. The long-sought “hand-foot” law increased benefits and duration of awards for amputations, but it carried no clear language on which cases it applied to. Some employers and insurers argu...